Drugs: Just the Facts

According to the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health:

• 19.7 million Americans used illegal drugs in the month prior to the survey. Marijuana accounted for nearly three-quarters of drug use (14.6 million).
• 2.3 million Americans received treatment for substance abuse at a specialty facility. 20.9 more million people needed treatment but did not receive any. Of this group, only 296,000 tried to get treatment.

According to the US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics:

• In 2004, state and local law enforcements made 1,745,712 arrests for drug crimes. More than 4 out of 5 arrests were for possession. In 1987, drug arrests were 7.4% of total arrests. In 2004, that percentage had risen to 12.5%.
• In 2002, of 265,100 inmates serving time for drug offenses, nearly half were black (47.53%), a quarter Hispanic (23.27%) and a quarter white (24.33%). According to the 2000 census the general population is 12.7% black and 12.6% Hispanic.
• The cost of incarcerating these offenders is approximately $8.6 billion per year.

And last but not least, according to a 1997 study, 1.46 million black men out of the total voting population of 10.4 will million lose their right to vote because of a felony conviction. More to come on this later in the week.